Significance Of 120 Names In Acts Chapter
Acts 1:15 records that "the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty." This figure marks the size of the gathered Christian community in Jerusalem between the Ascension and Pentecost, when Peter stood to address the disciples about replacing Judas. The number itself has drawn both practical and symbolic interpretation across Christian tradition.
The Practical Context
The immediate narrative purpose is straightforward: Luke establishes the size of the believing community that witnessed the selection of Matthias. Matthew Henry notes that the apostolic college was "ordained twelve, with an eye to the twelve tribes of Israel," and the vacancy left by Judas needed filling to restore that symbolic completeness [2]. The 120 thus form the assembly from which the replacement would be chosen, ensuring continuity with the original apostolic structure.
John Gill observes that this count likely excluded women, suggesting "the women were not reckoned into the number of the hundred and twenty here addressed," though he acknowledges the possibility they were included [4]. The phrase "number of names" (ὀνομάτων, onomaton) was a standard Greek idiom for counting persons, emphasizing the assembly's concrete reality rather than abstract symbolism.
Symbolic and Typological Readings
Patristic interpreters often sought mystical significance in biblical numbers. Clement of Alexandria exemplifies this approach when discussing Abraham's 318 servants, finding christological meaning in the numerical characters themselves [1]. While the sources do not provide specific patristic commentary on the 120, this hermeneutical tendency suggests early readers may have explored symbolic dimensions—perhaps connecting 120 to the years of Moses' life (Deuteronomy 34:7) or the 120 years before the Flood (Genesis 6:3).
The number's divisibility by twelve (120 = 12 × 10) could suggest a tenfold expansion of the apostolic foundation, anticipating the church's growth. Yet such readings remain speculative where textual evidence is absent. Calvin's caution about numerical discrepancies in manuscript transmission reminds us that ancient scribes sometimes altered numbers they deemed problematic [3], though no such textual variant exists for Acts 1:15.
The 120 ultimately represent the faithful remnant awaiting the Spirit's outpouring—a community small enough to gather in one place, yet sufficient to launch the mission that would soon add three thousand in a single day.
Sources
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 2: Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria — CHAP. Xl.--THE MYSTICAL MEANINGS IN THE PROPORTIONS OF NUMBERS, GEOMETRICAL RATIOS, AND MUSIC. (part 1): As then in astronomy we have Abraham as an instance, so also in arithmetic we have the same Abraham. "For, hearing that Lot was taken captive, and having numbered his own servants, born in his house, 318 (<greek>tih</greek>[5])," he defeats a very great number of the enemy. They say, then, that the character representing 300 is, as to shape, the type of the Lord's sign,[6] and that the Iota and the Eta indicat”
- Acts (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Acts 1:15: The sin of Judas was not only his shame and ruin, but it made a vacancy in the college of the apostles. They were ordained twelve, with an eye to the twelve tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve patriarchs; they were the twelve stars that make up the church's crown (Rev 12:1), and for them twelve thrones were designated, Mat 19:28. Now being twelve when they were learners, if they were but eleven when they were to be teachers, it would occasion every one to enquire what had become of the twelfth, and so revive the remembrance of the scandal of their society; a”
- CCEL (Reformed) “Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 2 (Gen 24-50), section 23.10: it was easy when numerals were signified by marks, for one passage to be corrupted. I suspect also that this happened from the following cause, that those who had to deal with the Scripture were generally ignorant of the Hebrew language; so that, conceiving the passage in the Acts to be vitiated, they rashly changed the true number. If any one, however, chooses rather to suppose that Luke in this instance accommodated himself to the rude and illiterate, who were accustomed to the Greek version, I do not contend with them. 179 17”
- Acts (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Acts 1:16: Men and brethren,.... Which is said not so much by Peter to express his modesty, and humility, and his brotherly love; or on account of the spiritual relation that subsisted between him and the persons he speaks to, as it was a common form used in addresses; see Act 7:2 it should seem, that the women, were not reckoned into the number of the hundred and twenty here addressed; and the Syriac version calls that number, "the number of men", unless they are supposed to be included in them: this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled; or "must needs be fulfilled": referr”